Watch: Ren Harvieu – Sister Morphine (The Rolling Stones cover)

‘Sister Morphine’ was originally recorded by The Rolling Stones at the end of the sixties but saw its first release with a Marianne Faithful vocal (she later won a writing credit for the song along with Jagger and Richards) a couple of years later. That version’s now become definitive and is synonomous with Faithfull’s own personal situation throughout the early seventies. She lived on the streets of Soho, addicted to heroin and battling with anorexia. Persistant cocaine use ended up shaping her trademark husky vocal.

It takes both balls and talent to do justice to such a track but we think Mancunian singer Ren Harvieu has both the of those things in spades. Now you might recall Harvieu’s haunting stab on Roy Orbison’s ‘Crying’ from earlier this year. She’s a cut above the crop of female vocalists who have attempted to recapture the voices of past generations and her version of ‘Sister Morphine’ taps into both the pain and pleasure of the drug. Back in the summer, she broke her back resulting in three months of hospitalisation and an overfamiliarity with the painkiller. “…was a really good friend in a time of need…I never wanted my little friend to go away,” Harvieu has said.

Check out the video below for a personal account of her time in hospital and then be swept away by the cover in all its glory.